In the Quiet Of The Night
by mediawatchingal
Summary: Matthew finds himself spending the night at Downton Abbey. A peak into a few nights of Matthew Crawley's life at Downton Abbey.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

They parted ways at the top of the staircase and Carson could not help but notice the look Matthew shared with Mary as they went down the separate corridors.

Carson opened the door to the bedroom for him and he entered behind Matthew.

"Are you certain you don't need anything more Mr. Crawley?" Carson asked him.

"No I'm fine Carson thank you so much for the room, and again I am so sorry for keeping you up so late, Mary and I just lost track of time I suppose" his eyes didn't quite meet Carson's eyes and he saw the coy grin that spread across the future Earl's face.

"It is quite alright, I assume good news is eminent. I will not hold it against you for enjoying your evening" Mr. Carson admitted to being aware of what had occurred earlier between the two. Matthew looked at him with little amazement knowing this man knew everything that took place in this house.

"Indeed it is Mr. Carson, Indeed it is" Matthew's face broke out into a grin and he wondered how he could possibly sleep after the way the night had ended for him and Mary.

"Well I'll leave you to rest Sir, have a good night and Congratulations, Everyone will be so pleased for you both." Carson left him on his own after Matthew thanked him once again.

Matthew set down on the edge of the bed with an enormous smile on his face unbuttoning his waistcoat and removing his tie. He could hardly believe what had taken place; he ran his hand over his face and tapped his feet on the floor. His excitement was barely containable but he knew tomorrow would be an exhausting day of excitement and he slid his shoes and coats off pulling his shirt tail out and climbing under the covers.

He lay still, listening to the sounds the big house made in the darkness of night, he would spend a small fraction of his life sleeping in this house but thought it fitting his first memory of sleeping here would share the memory of the night he and Mary began again.

He heard the door click open and sat up startled wondering who would have entered without knocking.

There she was, wrapped tightly in a robe with her nightgown underneath and her braided hair wrapped around her shoulder.

"My darling…" he breathed it out in a whisper.

"I couldn't possibly sleep," she admitted from the foot of the bed.

He turned the covers down next to himself and motioned for her to join him. She hurried in next to him and he curled an arm around her waist and laid her down into the pillows kissing her firmly on the lips.

They stayed that way for a moment, her hands on his face, as they were earlier. She brought her hands down placing them on his chest and he pulled her close to him, his lips resting on her head. They got as close as they could under the blankets and their legs intertwined, she notice a shutter from Matthew when she drug her toes up the back of his calf. They lay there holding each other in silence a moment more, relishing in the fact they could be like this without feeling guilty of who waited in another room for them.

"I don't think I can explain to you how happy I am Matthew…" She drew her head underneath his chin as her hands grasped at his shoulders.

"I couldn't let you go Mary, I couldn't lose you. Not again." He admitted it, his voice breaking as the words left his lips.

"Oh Matthew, We mustn't wait. Please, lets get married soon..." Mary begged and drew her face away so he could see his.

"I would do it tomorrow if they would let us my dear, but you know they are going to make a big to do out of it…." Matthew smiled at her and she nodded in agreement.

"Yes and they shall all think that they are responsible for the two of us finally sorting ourselves out…" Mary laughed and sat up next to him taking his hands in her own.

She sat next to him as he laid down and idly drew circles in his palm with her fingers, he could not remember a time he had ever seen her like this; so full of excitement and a wearing smile that had not faltered since he asked her to be his wife.

"I told Anna, she is thrilled of course," Mary said with a grin.

"Carson knows too I am afraid…" Matthew raised her hand as he spoke and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist.

"Well I'm happy about that. Other than Mama and Papa they are the two of the most important people in my life…" Mary stated before adding "….and you of course"

She laughed as she said it and Matthew gave her a quizzical look.

"What is so funny?" he asked her.

"I just…I can't believe it. I mean, everything that has happened over the last six years Matthew and here I am, here we are. I never thought….I love you, I love you so much and now I can tell you. I can tell anyone. I never thought I'd be able…." He cut her off sitting up and placing another kiss on her lips. This one more searching than the others had been and her arms made their way around his neck. He pulled back and leaned his forehead to hers. "I love you…I have loved you since the moment you…" this time it was Mary's turn to cut him off.

"Pushed in?" she said with a giggle.

"Precisely…" he said kissing her quickly once again.

"This isn't very proper of you Matthew having a woman in your bed." She raised an eyebrow to him with a telling look.

"Excuse me! I am ever the gentleman and you are my fiancé. There is no impropriety here my lady…." He grinned back at her.

"Besides I intend to ravish you on our wedding night and not a moment sooner my darling." He took her hand again this time placing a kiss on the back of it.

"Ever the gentleman Mr. Crawley." Mary smiled resting a hand on his cheek.

"My dear, I am not going to bed I am too excited…"

"Well what do you suppose we do?" he said with a playful grin.

Mary dropped her hand from his face at his comment and her look turned serious.

As she noticed something below Matthew's shirt. She dipped her hand under the collar and pulled it back slightly, her fingers brushed over a scar and he closed his eyes at the touch.

"I remember this" she looked at the scar quizzically and Matthew opened his eyes watching her study.

"You remember it?" he questioned how she would know it, he known she'd seen him in the hospital when he had returned but certainly his pajama's had covered it then.

"Yes, when you got to the hospital, I…" her words trailed off and blush rose on her checks. She looked up at him and then back to the scar her fingers still tracing over it.

"When you arrived at the hospital, I…I was there, I wanted to be there, to watch over you. Make sure nothing went unnoticed…" she couldn't look at him as she admitted to it but if she had looked up she would have seen a look of loving shock on his face. How could he not have known? She was there, the entire time?

"I helped Sybil clean the…I helped her clean you up" she couldn't bring her self to say it, blood. The blood that was everywhere, dried to his skin, some of it needed scrubbing off it was so caked on and some of it that she wiped off she knew was not his own.

"If I remember correctly, there's another…." She undid the buttons of his shirt and pushed it off his shoulders with her hands and down his side resting her fingers on his rib cage. "…here."

He brought his hand up to her neck and she raised her eyes to his, tears filling them. "I didn't know…" the tears slipped down his face and she brushed them away with her other hand.

"It was better you didn't know then Matthew. It was wrong…" her voice broke as she spoke and her hand rested on his face.

He raised his other hand and cupped her face pressing a kiss to her lips once more.

"I will spend the rest of my life worshiping you, making up to you the last seven years…" Matthew was so distraught over what he had just discovered and he thought back to what he had said to Lavina, after everything that had happened Mary had offered her self in the same ways Lavina had.

"I've been so blind Mary…" he pulled her closer and into his lap

"Matthew, it is okay…please. Don't be upset…" she held on to him tightly tears falling from her own eyes now.

"We will take care of each other Matthew." she placed kisses along his shoulders and he loosened his grip on her pulling her lips back down to his.

After they had calmed down and settled back into each others arms under the covers Matthew lay there holding her with her head under his chin relishing in the intimacy of their night and how far they had come already. Her breathing became deeper and he could tell she had fallen asleep. He would wake her in time to get back to her bedroom before the house woke up. Tomorrow everyone would find out and the planning would begin, but tonight belonged to them.


	2. Chapter 2

_Come to me tonight, you remember where my room is right?_

He remembered the words she had whispered to him at their engagement celebration earlier that night as he wrapped his dressing gown around him and waited until he heard one chime on the clock.

_One o'clock, everyone will be long to bed by then…I'll be waiting. _

In the few months since their engagement the moments they had found alone were filled with heated, passionate kisses. Those kisses were usually interrupted by the sounds of footsteps and once by Anna when she had caught them in her bedroom.

Mary was listening for the clock herself and waiting near the door. She heard his footsteps coming down the hall she was listening so hard. She swung the door open as he was approaching; he stopped in the doorway once he arrived. She smiled at him, the only thing illuminating her face was the fire coming from her room. He smiled back and entered pulling her closer to him at her waist and kissing her firmly as he closed the door quietly behind them.

His lips were on her neck and she was working at the knot on his robe.

"We really mustn't"… she laughed as she continued on the robe.

"Absolutely not" he replied grinning into her neck as he undid the one button on the gown over her nightdress.

He slid the covering off her shoulders and discarded his own robe quickly. Pulling her lips to his. She depended the kiss and he wrapped his arms around her bottom picking her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he led her to the bed lying her down as he moved over her, placing kisses along her neck again moving lower to her chest. Sliding the shoulder of her nightdress down placing opened mouth kiss along the way. A little gasp escaped her lips as he pressed a kissed to the top of her breast.

"Mary?" his voice came out horse seeking permission.

"Please don't stop Matthew" she begged, meeting his eyes and bringing his face back up to hers.

He kissed her once again on her lips, and he ran his hand down to her leg pulling up her nightdress as his hand rose higher. He skimmed his fingers up her thigh to her stomach and she released a tiny moan. He moved down to her stomach placing kisses to it and moving up. Continuing as he looked up at her, her back arched slightly off the bed. Her nightdress was nearly around her neck now and his mouth closed over one of her breast, a moan of his name came loudly and she quickly covered her mouth, afraid someone would hear her.

He lifted his head and smiled up at her. She sat up and rose her hands over her head her as he lifted the nightdress all the way off. She took it from him tossing it to the floor. She moved her hands to the shirt of his nightclothes and began unbuttoning it. She dragged her fingers slowly over his chest and leaned her head down her kisses following her fingers.

His eyes closed at the contact of her lips on his chest and he leaned back onto the pillows taking her with him. She moved over him straddling his waist and she could feel him through her knickers, pressing against her bottom.

"Why Matthew…" she grinned down at him and he arched into her. Reaching his hand up he ran it over her breast and her head tilted back.

"You underestimate the effect you have on me…" Matthew pulled her down to him again this time his lips finding her breast. His fingers trailing down her back and under her knickers. Giving her bottom a little squeeze and eliciting a giggle from her he rolled them over.

His hands still in her knickers underneath them he moved them to her front.

"Do you trust me?" he begged her for an answer, his eyes meeting her own.

"With my life" her words granted him the permission he needed.

He swirls his fingers over her mound, she bites down on her lip suppressing the noise she knows will come from the pleasure he is causing her. He watches her wither beneath him, continually delighted by the gasps, _please don't stop's_, and _oh Matthew's _falling from her lips. She lies with her hand over her forehead catching her breath after she peaked.

Matthew lies down beside her, his hand flung over her waist quite pleased with leaving her speechless. She looks at him with a knowing grin, shaking her head slightly and lifting it off the pillow pressing her lips to his again.

"Thank you…" she pulls away propping her self up on his chest.

"For what darling?" Matthew asked tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Well…for that…but for making me so happy. I hope to make you as happy as you have made me Matthew" she slowly runs her hand down his stomach as she speaks.

"Darling, I am sure you…" he voice catches as he feels her hand slide under the waistband of his pajama bottoms.

He closes his eyes at the feeling of her hand around him. Now it is his turn to gasp.

"Mary…" her name leaves his lips as a whisper.

"Am I doing it right darling?" she begs for approval with a grin on her lips.

"Mmmhmm…"He licks his lips and mumbles with his eyes still closed and she continues her movements.

She enjoyed it, knowing it was her causing him this pleasure. As with everything Lady Mary endeavors she works to do it well.

"God Mary…" he lay on his side trailing his fingers along her stomach and hip. Her head rested on her own hand and her fingers at his chest and a smile on her face.

"Thank you" he raises a hand to her hair and brushes it out of her face.

"There is no reason to thank me darling…" she speaks as she leans in to kiss him once more.

"However, it is nearly three in the morning. You need to get back to your room…" she kisses him again more passionately than the last time, eventually finding her self above him once more.

"I can not possibly leave this room while your do that darling, especially from this angle." He grinned and sat himself up keeping her in his lap.

She brings her hands to his face as he brings his arms around her back, stroking his fingers lightly over the bare skin.

"I can not wait to be your wife Matthew, to wake up in the morning with you next to me…" he caught the glimmer in her eyes and brought his hands to her face.

"It won't be long now my darling…and I can not wait either" they kiss once more and he lifts them both off the bed. Mary squeals when she feels them rise.

"Matthew, what in God's name?" she gasp.

"How do you expect me to leave if you keep me trapped beneath you Mary?" Matthew smirks setting her down on the ground. Kissing her cheeks and face a few more times.

"Will I see you for breakfast?" she asks him as he redress himself, blushing as he pulls his pajama pants back on remembering how she had discarded them during her early pursuit.

"Of course, that is if you promise to behave yourself, unlike dinner…" he gave her a look and she grinned remembering how she had been unable to keep her hands to herself at dinner earlier trailing her fingers down on his leg and her foot slipping up the back of it underneath the table.

"I promise to behave myself Mr. Crawley" she beams at him and reaches to button the rest of his nightshirt.

He kisses her once more and turns to leave. She remains where she is and when he opens to door she speaks before he can leave.

"Matthew…"he barely hears her whisper and turns to face her wordlessly.

"Three weeks…three weeks and we'll be married…" the glimmer in her eyes from earlier is still there except there were tears as well now. He closes the door again and closes the distance he had placed between them. Wrapping her in his arms once more.

"Three weeks" he whispers into her neck as he holds on to her tightly.

She lightly kisses him again "You must go…"

She walks over to the door this time with him.

"I'll see you in a few hours darling…" pecking her the cheek he slips out the door quickly knowing he could stop himself from leaving again.

Mary sits down on the bed and slips under the covers, lying down with a heavy sigh.

"Three weeks…" she whispers.


	3. Chapter 3

_A bit of a jump here, like the summary says this is a peak into nights of Matthew Crawley's life spent up at the big house. Of course the first two chapters are closer together only a few months separate them. This one is a bit further along and shorter than the others…Also this chapter is so fluffy and sweet you might get a tooth ache. _

December 1921

"I just don't understand why we have to stay the night…" Matthew complained loosening his tie.

Mary was sitting at the foot of the bed taking the pins out of her hair and smiling at him and shaking her head as he stood it front of her.

She laughed a reached her stocking clad foot out running it up his leg.

"You didn't seem to mind the last time you got snowed in here." She grinned playfully. It altered his mood immediately.

"That was quite the evening…" he grinned but disregarded the memory.

"That's different, we are married now and have a home of our own to go to together, which by the way is at the end of the drive way practically…" she looked at Matthew entertained as he paced the room with his hands in his pockets now.

She couldn't help but admire how handsome he looked. It reminded her of the time she caught him in his study a few months earlier pacing the room arguing with himself about a case.

"So what is the problem Matthew? I'm here, we are together…Is there something missing?" she asked looking around the room sarcastically.

It finally occurred to him she was poking fun at him and he wasn't going to take it.

"That's enough out of you Mrs. Crawley!" he leaned down and picked her up off the bed throwing her over his shoulder.

"Matthew Crawley…put me down this instant!" she laughed and smacked him on his bottom with his grip around her legs.

"Oh no Lady Mary! You are misbehaving and now you must face the consequences!" he laughed as he held her still and gave her bottom a pat as well.

"Your not at all heavy, I could hold on to you for sometime like this! I was a soldier you know!" he laughed again and spun around slightly.

She reached her hands around his waist after his threat and started to unhook his belt.

"Two can play this game Matthew!" she said wickedly as she pulled the belt off with out even looking.

"Oh no you don't!" He tipped her back over his shoulder but kept her raised off the ground in his arms.

She kissed him happily as he held her up and wrapped her legs around his waist as he held her at her bottom.

"You are going to hurt your back dear…" she said smoothing his hair back over his head.

"I'm fine. Your not _that_ heavy…" he grinned giving her a look.

She gave him a playful smack on his chest and leaned in kissing him again.

He sat down on the foot of the bed with her now in his lap. "This isn't so bad is it?" she grinned as he ran his fingers up the back of her dress beginning to unbutton it while she unbuttoned his shirt.

"Do you intend to sleep in your slip darling? Since we have no pajamas?" he asked. They may be in her parents' house but they were married now and they had only given them one room, what did they expect to happen?

"Why darling? Would you like to sleep in it?" she giggled as she took the cuff links off his wrist.

"Yes, that is exactly what I was going to ask you to do with it….please take it off." She grinned at him and got off of his lap placing the cuff links on the vanity. After slipping out of her dress and laying it across the chair she reached her hand out for him to give her his shirt. She watched him slip under the covers after removing his pants and handing them to her as well with a grin.

She giggled watching him settle there. "What is it?" he asked her.

"It's just something I said to my Mama…" she grinned at the memory.

"What's that?" he asked.

"I made a comment to her a million years ago that really smart people sleep in separate rooms…" she smiled again shaking her head.

"Really? Well should I ask for my own then?" he paused a moment and though "However, previous experience tells me you will just seek it out in the middle of the night anyways…" he looked at her with his head titled to the side slightly and a smile on his face.

She made her way across the room and got under the covers as well. She wiggled underneath the covers and he gave her a funny look.

"We haven't spent a night apart since we got married…" Matthew stated frankly.

She brought her hands back up from under the blankets and dropped the slip in his lap with an eyebrow arched at him.

"And we won't be starting anytime soon…" he grinned mischievously as he tossed the slip to the floor and turned himself over her.

"Certainly not…." She giggled out as he smiled pressing a kiss to her lips.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: I think this is my favorite so far. It's more fluff. Fair warning. It is just turned out so much more adorable than I thought it would. Hope you enjoy! May have used my own name somewhere in here...but its new character…_

_Please review! _

* * *

><p><em>Spring 1940<em>

Mary was standing at the window of her bedroom watching as the rain continued to pour violently down in sheets. Matthew came up behind her wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning his chin onto her shoulder.

"Seems like it has been raining for weeks…" she spoke softly standing still.

"It should let up soon, you should be use to it." Matthew grinned.

"It's hard to believe he has been gone a year now…" Mary sighed leaning back into Matthew's chest.

"Mama is doing well though, she said tonight that she has settled into the Dowager house nicely. I can tell she misses him immensely though…" Matthew's arms tightened around her waist and he kissed her shoulder.

"I'm sure it has not been the easiest transition for her. I wish she would have stayed here though, so she could have been with you and the children…" Matthew spoke quietly.

"Yes, I would have liked that too but she seemed so determined for us to do this on our own. She kept speaking of how capable we were and we didn't need anyone around to get in the way of our duties…" Mary laughed slightly at the thought, remembering how she once briefly believed Matthew would never be a capable Lord Grantham.

She turned around in his arms and placed her own around his neck admiring him for a moment before smiling up at him softly.

"What?" he asked with a look on his face like he knew she was up to something.

"Nothing, I'm just admiring you, Can't I do that after nearly 20 years of marriage?" she asked softly.

"There's more to it then that…" Matthew replied, knowing by now when she wasn't saying everything on her mind.

"You are so good at this, there are so many reasons you are perfect for this role. Reasons that Papa and Granny could never have seen coming. Papa would be so proud of you, you know how he felt about you…the son he never had." Mary smiled and cut Matthew off before he protested.

"No I'm not saying he preferred you over us I'm just saying that he loved you like his own and if he could see you now…Matthew, I am so happy to be in this with you." She smiled resolving her thoughts and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

"Thank you darling…" he said placing a kiss on her lips in return.

They got into bed and she curled into his side laying her head on his chest.

"I hope this war doesn't drag out…" Mary sighed.

"Well you don't have to worry about me going anywhere, thanks to my ridiculous back. Now I know how your father felt…a bit useless. Although I have my job, he didn't have that…" Matthew explained.

"I'm certainly glad we had a boy last…" Mary admitted.

"I know what it is like to send a boy you love to war and I do not envy feeling like that again…" she continued.

"Oh my darling." He murmured into her hair as he kissed the top of her head.

"I'm glad for Alexander being young, but it is a struggle for Sybil and Tom…" Mary sighed.

"He will be safer than if he was just in the army, he's a doctor. At least he isn't right on the front…" Matthew added.

"Yes, that is a relief." She smiled.

They lay there silently for a while, both of them stuck for a moment in thoughts of 1918 and the time they spent in a hospital.

There was a soft tapping at the door a moment later.

Mary looked up at Matthew with a knowing grin.

"Come in…" Matthew spoke softly in a singsong voice, remaining in their position, sure of who it was at the door.

The door opened very slowly and the first thing Mary saw were the soft brown girls falling over her shoulders as the small girl leaned on the door holding onto the handle.

"Victoria?" Mary asked sweetly.

"Whatever are you doing awake darling?" Matthew added.

"The rain…it is so loud. Do you think I could sleep in here with you and Mama, Papa?" she asked quietly not meeting their eyes.

"Of course darling." Matthew said patting the bed. She ran over and jumped onto their bed.

"Did you try to wake up Abigail?" Mary asked.

"No! She is so grumpy when you wake her up!" Victoria answered raising her voice slightly.

Matthew laughed, "Like mother, like daughter…" he added.

"Plus she has upset me. She told me at dinner tonight that she was Papa's daughter and I was Mama's daughter and Alexander was the only that was both Mama's and Papa's son…" Victoria looked between her parents as they smiled at her story.

"Is that true Papa? Do I only belong to Mama?" Victoria asked as she crawled on the bed into her mothers lap.

Matthew and Mary looked at each other grinning widely.

"Of course not darling!" He smiled.

Their fifteen year old daughter was often teasing her much younger sister and Mary couldn't help be reminded of how she used to do the same to Edith.

"Perhaps darling it is because we match" Mary added and her daughter looked at her confused.

"We match darling, you see. Our eyes are the same color." Mary explained.

"The most chocolaty shade of brown…" Matthew added.

"And we both have long brown hair that curls as the ends" Mary said twirling her finger around Victoria's loose curls.

"And Abigail has blonde curls, like your Papa and his blue eyes that sparkle like diamonds…" Victoria looked between the two of them like she was checking her mothers explanation.

"Alexander has Mama's brown hair like me! And papa's blue eyes like Abbey." Victoria was excited and pleased with her own explanation as her parents agreed shaking their heads and smiling.

"Tomorrow I will tell Abbey she was wrong! I will tell her just as you have told me." Victoria exclaimed.

"That you are our mama…" she rubbing her hands over Mary's cheeks and pressing a kiss to it lightly and then crawling over to Matthews lap and doing the same.

"And that you are our papa." She finished and lifted the covers sliding between the two of the.m

"But for now can we go to sleep? I am so very tired. " Victoria added in a familiar voice that Matthew recognized as sounding just like her mother.


End file.
